Barcelona are leaving aside the distractions of their latest scandal by playing good football and winning big matches.
With their second win over Real Madrid in less than three weeks, Barcelona made sure there is more talk about the team’s prowess on the field than the club’s alleged troubles away from it.
The Catalans have been under scrutiny over their payments of several millions of dollars over several years to the former vice president of the country’s refereeing committee. They will have to defend themselves in the courts after being formally accused by prosecutors of alleged corruption, fraudulent management and falsification of documentation.
Barcelona are holding their own just fine on the field, though. They rallied for a 2-1 win over Madrid on Sunday to all but secure their first Spanish league title since 2019. The victory, coming on a stoppage-time winner by Franck Kessie after Madrid took an early lead at Camp Nou, gave Barcelona a more-than-comfortable 12-point lead over their archrivals with 12 games left.
"It was a happy locker room,” Barcelona coach Xavi said. "We can’t forget where we are coming from. Last year, the gap to Madrid was 12 points, but we were behind. In October we were three points back, so we made up 15 points to Madrid. You have to give credit to how things are being done in this club.”
Madrid are among the clubs siding against Barcelona in the legal proceedings, as is the Spanish government, the league and the football federation. Barcelona have consistently denied any wrongdoing or conflict of interest, saying they paid for technical reports on referees but never tried to influence their decisions in games.
Madrid did leave Camp Nou complaining about the refereeing, though, after their 81st-minute go-ahead goal by Marco Asensio was disallowed by a video review in a tight offside call. Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said the offside wasn't clear enough to be overturned.
Barcelona had already been saved by the VAR last weekend when Athletic Bilbao’s equalizer was called back after a controversial handball in the buildup of Inaki Williams’ 87th-minute goal.
Despite the recent help, Barcelona has been playing well under Xavi and finding ways to win when they are not in their best form or dealing with injuries like the recent ones of Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembele and Pedri.
Barcelona are seeking their first league title since being dragged into a deep financial crisis that led to the departure of their greatest player of all time Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain. They are chasing a 27th league trophy, which would leave them eight behind Madrid.
Barcelona won eight league titles in 11 seasons through 2019. Since then, they finished second to Madrid in 2020, third – behind Madrid and champion Atletico Madrid – in 2021, and second to Madrid again last season without Messi.
This year they have already won the Spanish Super Cup - the team’s first trophy since the 2021 Copa del Rey.
La Blaugrana were eliminated from both the Champions League and Europa League again, but remain alive in the Copa.
They are facing Madrid in the semifinal's second leg next month at Camp Nou, having won the reverse fixture 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium after another solid performance.
Barcelona will need another big result then to keep the spotlight on Xavi's team and not on the club's off-the-field problems.
"We’ve only won the Super Cup so far,” Xavi said. "The league is ours to lose. We can’t relax. We hope the players return well from the international break.”
